There are many things that can cause stress to students, whether it be in college or high school. Life at home, homework, personal issues or thoughts, bullying, possible abuse in some way, and often linked to it mental illnesses arise.

I know that back in high school I especially struggled with the stress of life, school, and homework, eventually factoring into my mental illness. While I won't say that specifically caused my mental illness, it definitely played a role in the severity of it.

I know that I'm not the only one who felt and sometimes still feels that way. And now I'm finding that in college, it doesn't get any easier. The work load becomes larger, you're left trying to find yourself, and juggle school, homework, work, and life. It's a hard time in anyone's life. But I think that the amount of stress that is put on teenagers and young adults is ridiculous.

I always hear people saying that my generation is just too sensitive, that we were just raised to be too sensitive to things. But I have never seen any one of those people be in the shoes that we are in today. We have three times as much homework as anyone can even fathom. When your life becomes work, school, and homework and nothing in between that, then I'll let you tell me exactly how sensitive we are.

I think that so many people are more likely to develop mental illnesses and self-destructive mindsets and behaviors because of stress. If there were more resources to help people who are going through these things it would help greatly. I think that because there aren't enough resources people are less likely to seek help and more likely to continue on a downward spiral.

For many people stress is a huge trigger, for whatever it is, everything just seems to get worse when you're stressed. There should be many more options for students in both high school and college who feel they need more support. Even something like a support group for students to talk about their stresses, do fun things, go to dinner, better quality gyms, anything really so long as it helps them to feel like they aren't alone or are left without an escape.

That, mixed with more acceptance and understanding in the world that everyone is fighting their own war would help immensely. Also if everyone would realize that other people should not have to live their lives according to your standards, it would help.